Coming up green: Margarido House channels green building techniques
by Jonathan McGaha | October 31, 2008 12:00 am
Sustainable: Check.
Functional: Check.
Aesthetic: Check.
When it comes to building “green,” a simple metal product has made a triple play at a California home that’s being celebrated for its environmental integrity and trendy design.
Unlike Any Other
Perched in the Oakland Hills on a 13,000-square foot (1,208-m2) multilayer lot overlooking the San Francisco Bay, the Margarido House-named for the street where it is built-has a wing-like metal architectural feature that boldly proclaims the home’s green virtues.
Designed around the idea that the home would not need air conditioning, a simple yet sustainable aluminum bar grating wraps neatly around the southern and western exposure of the house to provide shade from the sun. Builder/developer and resident Mike McDonald of McDonald Construction & Development Inc., Oakland, found that metal bar grating, often associated with industrial uses, serves multiple green purposes.
It helps to cool the first level and doubles as a functional deck on the west side with the addition of a handrail. On the south side, the bar grating acts as a catwalk for window maintenance. Adding to its green attributes is its permeability and noncorrosive quality, making it an integral part of the home’s rainwater recycling system.
In short, the metal bar grating provides an aesthetically pleasing feature that supports the home’s environmental integrity and contemporary design.
Tampa, Fla-based McNichols supplied the bar grating in 2- and 3-foot (0.6- and 0.9-m) panels of 20-foot (6-m) lengths weighing roughly 200 pounds (90 kg) each. The material, specified and installed by Chris French Metal Inc., Oakland, was bolted to the cantilevered steel beams of the 4,635-square-foot (431-m2) house.
The deck, which extends 8 feet (2 m), is strong enough to walk on; wide enough to shade the sun’s intensity into the first-floor living room, kitchen and entryway; durable enough to withstand fire and wind; and permeable enough to aid water runoff recycling.
More Than Shade
Completed this spring, the home has a 600- square-foot (56-m2) planted roof with underground rainwater storage tanks. McNichols metal bar grating also was used for exterior stair treads leading up to the roof; the self-cleaning structure offers safety and durability while allowing rain to penetrate to the ground, where it is redirected to the reservoir beneath the driveway.
The rooftop soil and plantings help to insulate the home, increase the roof’s life span, slow storm water runoff and provide a natural green space for viewing the San Francisco skyline. The roof also houses photovoltaic panels to generate electricity, while solar water collectors preheat water for the radiant-floor heating system and domestic hot water.
McNichols grating was chosen again for the driveway as a sturdy and permeable cover for the mechanical equipment serving the 4,000- gallon (15,200-L) underground concrete reservoir. The grating provides access to the rain and groundwater collection cisterns, pumps and controls for maintenance while keeping the area open for parking.
Designer Metal
According to McDonald, Margarido House is slated to be the first LEED-H Platinum Custom Home in Northern California and the first home in the country to be both LEED-H certified and GreenPoint rated. These certifications ensure that the Margarido House-which is being recognized with a national award for design excellence-goes above and beyond California building standards.
“There were a lot of materials we could have used for the sun shade, like wood slats or a greenhouse material such as polycarbonate panels, but [they] would not have given the same effect,” said Chris French, metal installer. “We wanted a material that would last a long time, so we kept coming back to aluminum. It’s weather resistant, lightweight and sturdy enough to get us into the [weight load factor] safety zone.”
According to McDonald, his design team never imagined that the metal grating would become the signature element of the home. “It evolved organically during the design build phase,” he said. “It has this aviation and nautical feel to it.”
Mary Estes is principal with Estes and Co., Tampa, Fla. More information about McNichols Co., Tampa, is available at www.mcnichols.com.
Margarido House, Oakland, Calif.
Builder/developer and resident: Mike McDonald, McDonald Construction & Development Inc., Oakland
Metal bar grating: McNichols Co., Tampa, Fla., www.mcnichols.com
Installer: Chris French Metal Inc., Oakland
Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/projects/coming-up-green-margarido-house-channels-green-building-techniques/